Mechanism for threading beads



J 1953 v. E. LITTERIO ETAL 2,640,631

MECHANISM FOR Tl-[READING BEADS Filed April 14, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 {I VENTORS QMM/ iwzr June 2, 1953 v. E. LlTTERlO EI'AL 2,640,631

MECHANISM FOR THREADING BEADS Filed April 14, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 2, 1953 Virgy E. Litterio and Malcolm T. Blease, Providence, R I.

Application April 14, 1949, Serial No. 87,394

16 Claims.

The present invention relates to the jewelry art,, and has particular reference toa novel mechanism for threading beads on supporting strands;

The principal object oi the invention to provide a simple mocha-mm for automatically threading pierced beads on a supporting strand of cotton, nylon, fine wire or the like.

Another object of the invention is to provide: a threading machine which has a. hopper into which alarge number 041 beads are loosely deand which. selectively positons the beads to he threaded on the supporting. strand Still another object is to provide a threading. machine which automatically a number oi beads. and thensuccessively mounts the beads on. astrand terminal such as a needle or the like.

With. the above. and. other objects and advantageous features in view, the invention consists oil a novel. arrangement. of parts more fully disclosed. in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying. drawings and more specifically defined. in the claims appended thereto.

In the drawings, Fig l is a. side elevation of. an apparatus embodying. the invention;

Fig. 2. is a front view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a top plan vicwthe'reofi;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional detail showing. the threading operation;

Fig. 5' is an enlarged. detail section. at the lower end of the aligning tube;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the gripper jaw mechanism; and:

Fig. '7 is a perspective view of the agitator cam and its associated support hearing.

We have devised an apparatus which feeds heads, and particularly pearls, successively from a hopper to an. aligning mechanism which successively positions the beads with their thread passages in substantially vertical reiation, whereby the beads are successively passed overa; threading needle and over a supporting strand.

Referring to the drawings, the novel threader' Hi includes a support frame base H which has anupright panei f2 and drives a pulley ["4 keyed to the motor shaft, and an upper and lower set of. spaced. support bars I55, l6 extend from the other side or the panel IE to receive journal. bars I'T, I8 which have centrally located journals l9}v 2.0,v the journals: 19,. being. preferably of the split. type.

An aligning tube 2L positioned vertically in hearings journals I 9; 2.0, and is rotatably driven at high speed by a pulley 22 keyed thereto, see Fig. 4, and connected to the pulley M by a belt 23 the; pulley 22 being supported between the journals l9 20. The upper end 24 of. the aligning tube is inwardly beveled and extends through the lower base 25 of a conical. hopper 25, the base 25 being generally cylindrical and forming. a lower funnel portion for the hopper 2.8. The lower end 27 of the aligning tube 2.1: is. constricted to provide a sliding movement of. a bead therethrough, and the remainder of the aligning tube 21 is oi slightly larger diameter, to permit a slight lateral movement of the heads as they pass down the aligning tube.

The base 25 of the hopper 26 has a fixed collar at with an upper cam lobe 29" in which the align in'g tube is rotatably supported, and a cylindrical agitator 313, see Fig. "7, is loosely seated on the collar 28 in concentric relation to the aligning tote, the agitator having a lower cam end 3! which tilts the agitator against the aligning tube, and which intermittently contacts the cam lots as, whereby rotation or the aligning tune induces a slow turning and an intermittent reciprocation of the agitator; the upper end. 32 of the agitator breaks up any bridging of the beads in the hop par and is inwardly beveled and to guide the pearls or heads into the aligning tube.

A small motor is mounted in a motor casing 33,- see Fig. I, secured to the frame base,- ior rotat ing a vertical shaft 34-, and gears 3-5; 38 rotating a vertical shaft 3! which has two sets of cams 38, 39 and 40,. 4t keyed thereto. Thesecanrs are positioned. to intermittently en gage two sets of gripping lever assemblies 42, 43 and M, 45 which are pivotally mounted in upper and lower support plates 46, 41 of a fixed frame 48. Each lever assembly has two levers 49 50 pivotally mounted through pivot openings 5t and pivotpins (not shown) to its associated support plate, the lovers having jaws 52 and being connested. by a pivot 53 toswing openas shown. in Fig. 6 when one lever of an assembly is one gaged by its cam; spring means M are mounted on the support plates and press against one lever of each lever assembly to normally keep the jaws in gripping relation- One lever of each lever assembly has its jaw angularly grooved as indicated by the: reference numeral. 55.

A. vertical threading needle 5'5: normally held. in the grooves 55 ot the lever jaws, and has its. upper end- 51 extending into the constrieted lower end of the aligning tube, the lower end having. an eye or the like for detachable securing of the supporting. strand 58 thereto.-

The needle 56 is preferably positioned slightly off center, as illustrated in Fig. 5, whereby the beads which pass through the constricted lower end 21 of the aligning tube shift the needle to provide an oscillation, the adjustment being preferably secured by shifting the motor casing 33.

The lever assemblies are so positioned and the lever operating cams are so timed, that the beads stack up on the needle above the upper lever assembly; the cam 31 is operated to open the upper lever assembly 4|, whereupon a predetermined number of beads may pass between the lever jaws to seat on the next lever assembly 42. These beads are permitted to drop to the third lever assembly 43 upon operating movement of the cam 38, and to pass through the lower lever assemblies in due course in response to movement of the cams 39, 40, the needle 56 being always held in threading-position by three of the lever assemblies.

Referring now to Fig. 4, the beads in the hopper are kept moving by the agitator and fall into the rotating aligning tube, wherein they shift laterally under the action of centrifugal force to finally turn and bring the threading passage to a substantially vertical position at the constricted outlet and to thread upon the upwardly extending 01f center point of the needle, whereupon they successively pass through the gripping jaw assemblies to thread upon the supporting strand.

Although we have described a specific embodiment of our invention, it is obvious that changes in the size, shape, and arrangement of parts to meet different requirements for threading beads, and to utilize a turret arrangement for threading beads of different sizes on the same supporting strand, may be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

' We claim:

1. In a bead threading machine, a hopper adapted to receive a number of pierced beads, a bead aligning tube, guide means interposed between the hopper and the tube for guiding beads in sequence from the hopper to the upper end of the tube, means cooperating with the tube for aligning the beads in said tube with their piercings in substantially vertical position, and means detachably mounting a needle in bead-threading relation to the lower end of the tube to receive the aligned beads thereon.

2. In a bead threading machine, a hopper adapted'to receive a number of pierced beads, a bead aligning tube, guide means interposed between the hopper and the tube for guiding beads in sequence from the hopper to the upper end of the tube, means cooperating with the tube for rotating the aligning tube to centrifugally align the beads in said tube with their piercings in substantially vertical position, and means detachably mounting a needle in beadthreading relation to the lower end of the tube to receive the aligned beads thereon.

' 3. In a bead threading machine, a hopper adapted to receive a number of pierced beads, a bead aligning tube, guide means interposed between the hopper and the tube for guiding beads in sequence from the hopper to the upper end of the tube, means for periodically agitating the beads in the hopper, means cooperating with the tube for aligning the beads in said tube with their piercings in substantially vertical position, and means detachably mounting a needle in bead-threading relation to the lower end of the tube to receive the aligned beads thereon.

4. In a bead threading machine, a hopper adapted to receive a number of pierced beads, an elongated aligning tube, guide means interposed between the hopper and the tube for guiding beads in sequence from the hopper to the upper end of the tube, means cooperating with the tube for aligning the beads in said tube with their piercings in substantially vertical position, and means detachably mounting a needle in bead-threading relation to the lower end of the tube to receive the aligned beads thereon.

5. In a bead threading machine, a hopper adapted to receive a number of pierced beads, an elongated bead aligning tube, guide means interposed between the hopper and the tube for guiding beads, in sequence from the hopper to the upper'end of the tube, means cooperating adapted to receive a number of pierced heads,"

an elongated bead aligning tube, guide means interposed between the hopper and the tube for guiding beads in sequence from the hopper to the upper end of the tube, means for periodi-' cally agitating the beads in the hopper, means cooperating with the tube for aligning the beads in said tube with their piercings in substantially vertical position, and means detachably mounting a needle in bead-threading relation to the lower end of the tube to receive the aligned beads thereon.

'7. In a bead threading machine, a hopper adapted to receive a number of pierced beads, an elongated aligning tube, guide means interposed between the hopper and the tube for guiding beads in sequence from the hopper to the upper end of the tube, means cooperating with the tube foraligning the beads in said tube with their piercings in substantially vertical position, and means detachably mounting a needle in bead-threading relation to the lower end of the tube to receive the aligned beads thereon, said thread needle mounting means positioning the thread needle point within the aligning tube and oil center with respect to the tube axis.

8. In a bead threading machine, a hopper adapted to receive a number of pierced beads, an elongated aligning tube, guide means interposed between the hopper and the tube for guiding beads in sequence from the hopper to the upper end of the tube, means cooperating with the tube for rotating the aligning tube to centrifugally align the beads in said tube with their piercings in substantially vertical position, and means detachably mounting a needle in beadthreading relation to the lower end of the tube to receive the aligned beads thereon, said thread needle mounting means positioning the thread needle point within the aligning tube and off center with respect to the tube axis.

9. In a bead threading machine, a hopper adaptedto receive a number of pierced beads,

an elongated aligning tube, guide means interposed between the hopper and the tube for. guid-- ing beads in sequence from the hopper to the pper end of the tube, means for periodically agitating the beads in the hopper, means cooperating with the tube for rotating the aligning tube to centrifugally align the beads in said tube with their piercings in substantially vertical position, and means detachably mounting a needle in bead-threading relation to the lower end of the tube to receive the aligned beads thereon, said thread needle mounting means positioning the thread needle point within the aligning tube and on center with respect to the tube axis.

10. In a bead threading machine, a hopper adapted to receive a number of pierced beads, a bead aligning tube, guide means interposed between the hop-per and the tube for guiding beads in sequence from the hopper to the upper end of the tube, means cooperating with the tube for aligning the beads in said tube with their piercings in substantially vertical position, and means detachably mounting a needle in bead-threading relation to the lower end of the tube toreceive the aligned beads thereon, said thread needle mounting means including mechanism for successively passing the beads along the needle.

11. In a bead threading machine, a hopper adapted to receive a number of pierced beads, a bead aligning tube, guide means interposed between the hopper and the tube for guiding beads in sequence from the hopper to the upper end of the tube, means cooperating with the tube for rotating the aligning tube to centrifugally align the beads in said tube with their piercings in substantially vertical position, and means detachably mounting a needle in bead-threading relation to the lower end of the tube to receive the aligned beads thereon, said thread needle mounting means including mechanism for successively passing the beads along the needle.

12. In a bead threading machine, a hopper adapted to receive a number of pierced heads, a bead aligning tube, guide means interposed between the hopper and the tube for guiding beads in sequence from the hopper to the upper end of the tube, means cooperating with the tube for periodically agitating the beads in the hopper, means for rotating the aligning tube to centrifugally align the beads in said tube with their piercings in substantially vertical position, and means detachably mounting a needle in beadthreadin relation to the lower end of the tube to receive the aligned beads thereon, said thread needle mounting means including mechanism for successively passing the beads along the needle.

13. In a bead threading machine, a hopper adapted to receive a number of pierced beads, an

elongated bead aligning tube, guide means interposed between the hopper and the tube for guiding beads in sequence from the hopper to the upper end of the tube, means cooperating with the tube for aligning the beads in said tube with their piercings in substantially vertical position, and means detachably mounting a needle in beadthreading relation to the lower end of the tube to receive the aligned beads thereon, said thread needle mounting means including mechanism for successively passing the beads along the needle.

14. In a bead threading machine, a hopper adapted to receive a number of pierced beads, an elongated bead aligning tube, guide means interposed between the hopper and the tube for guiding beads in sequence from the hopper to the upper end of the tube, means cooperating with the tube for rotating the aligning tube to centrifugally align the beads in said tube with their piercings in substantially vertical position, and. means detachably mounting a needle in headthreading relation to the lower end of the tube to receive the aligned beads thereon, said thread needle mounting means including mechanism for successively passing the beads along the needle.

15. In a bead threading machine, a hopper adapted to receive a number of pierced beads, an elongated bead aligning tube, means interposed between the hopper and the tube for periodically agitating the beads in th hopper, guide means for guiding beads in sequence from'the hopper to the upper end of the tube, means cooperating with the tube for rotating the aligning tube to centrifugally align the beads in said tube with their piercings in substantially vertical position, and means for detachably mounting a needle in bead-threading relation to the lower end of the tube to receive the aligned beads thereon, said thread needle mounting means including mechanism for successively passing the beads along the needle.

16. In a bead threading machine, in combina tion, a hopper adapted to receive a number of pierced beads, an aligning tube, means cooperating with the tube for rotating the aligning tube to subject the beads therein to centrifugal force, whereby said beads turn to align their piercings, and a detachably mounted stationary thread needle positioned below th lower end of the aligning tube to be threadably impaled by the piercings of the beads.

VIRGY E. LITTERIO. MALCOLM T. BLEASE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,004,464 Clarkson June 11, 1935 2,322,730 Kaneb June 22, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 620,339 France Sept. 20, 1927 

